Why wasn't my account approved?

1) You didn't verify your email address. We send out a confirmation message when you sign up. If you didn't see yours and click the link in it, check your spam folder.

2)You used a proxy, privacy software, or other obfuscation program when signing up.

3) You currently have or have had an account in poor standing with the Mug.

We try to maintain a pleasant atmosphere on answerMug, but we are run entirely by a small group of volunteers. As such, we try to stop the riff-raff at the door, by blocking accounts that carry the same characteristics as spammers or known trolls.

Our admin occasionally sleeps at night or steps away from her PC, so there may be times when it takes a few hours before your account is activated, although accounts are generally made live within a couple of hours, if not minutes.

If you have been waiting more than 24 hours and your account has not yet been activated, please double check that you weren't using any kind of "privacy" software when you applied. People who appear as "ghosts," shut off their cookies, use proxies, VPNs, etc., will not have their accounts activated. If you use any of these things, please turn it off and apply again. You can turn it back on as soon as your account goes live. To be clear, we are not referring to antivirus software- leave that on! However, the use of any kind of obfuscation program will likely get your account blacklisted.

If you are 100% certain you are not using one of these programs and you still have not had your account approved within 24 hours, and you verified your email address, please contact the admin.